The police are investigating a suspected racket involving fraudulent paperwork mimicking certificates issued by the planning authority. 

Times of Malta is informed that a representative of the PA requested a police investigation on Friday after several fraudulent compliance certificates were discovered at the utilities provider Enemalta. 

The certificates are normally handed out to property owners seeking to register for utilities provision. 

Sources privy to the matter said the certificates were identical to those normally issued by the PA, however the certificate number on each document did not correspond with those officially approved. 

Replying to questions, a spokesman for the PA said that last June, the authority had received a request from ARMS, the state utility bills service, to confirm whether or not a compliance certificate it received together with an application requesting electricity supply was authentic or not.

The spokesman said the authority had confirmed that the compliance certificate was not issued by the PA and was deemed “fake”.

The PA filed a police report at the Qormi police station about this case. The authority has not been contacted ever since, the spokesman said.

On Thursday and Friday, Enemalta sent a similar request to the PA about a number of other compliance certificates, six in total, which were all fake.

“Once these new cases have emerged, the authority expects that the police will widen its investigation into this crime,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that, as of 2017, the Planning Authority has digitalised the process for the issuing of compliance certificates.

A request for a compliance certificate can only be submitted by a warranted architect and all submissions must be made through the PA’s eApplications system.